Location | |
---|---|
Mpumalanga | |
Country | South Africa |
Production | |
Products | Coking coal |
The Matla Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 297.3 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world. The mine produces around 14 million tonnes of coal per year with the output going directly to the Matla Power Station. [1]
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements; chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dead plant matter decays into peat and is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originates in former wetlands—called coal forests—that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Mpumalanga is a province of South Africa. The name means "east", or literally "the place where the sun rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It constitutes 6.5% of South Africa's land area. It shares borders with the South African provinces of Limpopo to the north, Gauteng to the west, the Free State to the southwest, and KwaZulu-Natal to the south. The capital is Mbombela.
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini (Swaziland); and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 24th-largest country in the world by land area and, with over 57 million people, is also the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Bantu ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European, Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.
Coal mining regions are significant resource extraction industries in many parts of the world. They provide a large amount of the fossil fuel energy in the world economy.
Mining in the United Kingdom produces a wide variety of fossil fuels, metals, and industrial minerals due to its complex geology. In 2013, there were over 2,000 active mines, quarries, and offshore drilling sites on the continental land mass of the United Kingdom producing £34bn of minerals and employing 36,000 people.
Coal mining is an important industry in Ukraine.
Anina Coal Mine is an underground mine that is now closed. It was one of the largest mines in Romania. It is located in South-Western Romania, in Anina, Caraş-Severin County in the historical Banat region. The mine still has large reserves of anthracite, lignite, brown coal and oil shale amounting to over 1.3 billion tonnes. It was owned by Miniera Banat a state owned company that specialised in the management of coal mines in the Banat region. The mine opened in 1790 making it the longest running mine in Romania until its closure in 2006. Its galleries are hundreds of kilometers in length and reach a depth of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) making it the deepest mine in Romania and one of the deepest in Europe. The mine supplied oil shale to the nearby Crivina Power Station, a 990 MW thermal power station, the first oil shale power station in Romania, that had to be supplied with around 4 million tonnes of oil shale per year.
The Dęby Szlacheckie coal mine is a large mine in the north of Poland in Dęby Szlacheckie, Greater Poland Voivodeship, 130 km north-west of the capital, Warsaw. Dęby Szlacheckie represents one of the largest coal reserves in Poland having estimated reserves of 92 million tonnes of coal. Annual coal production is around 3.3 million tonnes.
Some of the more notable coal companies in Australia are the following:
Lodna Area is one of the 12 operational areas of BCCL located in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the state of Jharkhand, India.
Mining in North Korea is important to the country's economy. North Korea is naturally abundant in metals such as magnesite, zinc, tungsten, and iron; with magnesite resources of 6 billion tonnes, particularly in the Hamgyeong-do and Jagang-do provinces. However, often these cannot be mined due to the acute shortage of electricity in the country, as well as the lack of proper tools to mine these materials and an antiquated industrial base. Coal, iron ore, limestone, and magnesite deposits are larger than other mineral commodities. Mining joint ventures with other countries include China, Canada, Egypt, and South Korea.
The Vele Coal Mine is a coal mine located in Limpopo Province. The majority of its shares are held by Coal Africa Limited (CoAL).
The Revuboè Coal Mine is a coal mine located in Tete, Changara District, Tete Province. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 1.4 billion tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world and has an annual production of 5 million tonnes of coal.
The Goedgevonden Coal Mine is a coal mine located in north-western South Africa. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 200 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world. The mine has an annual production capacity of 6.7 million tonnes of coal.
The Arnot Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Mpumalanga Province. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 192 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world. The mine produces around 5 million tonnes of coal per year.
The Leeuwpan Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the Mpumalanga Province. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 160 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world. The mine produces around 3 million tonnes of coal per year.
The Aranos Mine is a coal mine located in the Hardap Region, Namibia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 300 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Africa and the world. The mine produces around 8 million tonnes of coal per year.
The Kostolac Coal Mine is a coal mine in Serbia. The mine is located in Kostolac in Braničevo District. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 809 million tonnes of lignite, one of the largest lignite reserves in Europe, and it produces 5.7 million tonnes of coal per year.
The Lubelska coal mine is a large mine in the east of Poland in Lublin Voivodeship. Lubelska represents one of the largest coal reserve in Poland having estimated reserves of 503.6 million tonnes of coal. The annual coal production is around 8.2 million tonnes.
The Curragh Coal Mine is an open-cut, coal mine located 30 km north of Blackwater in Central Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 88 million tonnes of coking coal, one of the largest coal reserves in Asia and the world. The mine had an annual production capacity of 7 million tonnes of coal. The mine covers 12,600 ha of the Rangal Coal measures in the Bowen Basin.
Aninoasa Coal Mine is an underground mining exploitation, one of the largest in Romania located in Aninoasa in the south-western part of the country in Hunedoara County. The legal entity managing the Aninoasa mine is the National Hard Coal Company which was set up in 1998. The mine has reserves of 70.7 million tonnes of coal and annual production amounts to 0.4 million tonnes.
The production of coal in Tanzania has largely been underdeveloped for many years. Tanzania has an estimated 1.5 billion tonnes of reserves and is believed to have the largest reserves of coal in East Africa. In 2015, Tanzania produced in excess of 250,000 tonnes of coal, of which 94% of it was consumed domestically.
Eastern Jharia Area is one of the 12 operational areas of BCCL located in Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the state of Jharkhand, India.